


On The Express

by Typewriter44



Series: Albus Potter Is His Father's Son [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: HP: Epilogue Compliant, Hogwarts Express, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Original Character(s), Pre-Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-06 22:15:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8771500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Typewriter44/pseuds/Typewriter44
Summary: Albus and Rose on the train, they meet some people and eat some sweets and it's quite different to how it go in other writings.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Be warned, ahead lies an original character with more than two sentences of dialogue and a deviation from the first express scene in the Cursed Child. You have been warned.

[b]On The Express[/b]  
"Dads unbearable sometimes" Rose muttered as she opened The Complete History Of Hogwarts and settled into the seat beside her cousins. ""Beat him at every test", like I'm some sort of racing Kneazle. Parents who put their children into competition in their formative years are more likely to end up alone on Boxing Day I read somewhere."

 

James rolled his eyes. "Yes it must be so hard to keep track of all those books, Rose" he teased. Apparently she had the same superior way of lecturing as her mother had at that age, according to her Dad and most of the Weasleys. "Anyway it’s a Malfoy, they're all gits anyway."

 

Al bristled. "I've met Scorpius, he seems alright" he muttered tightly.

 

"Pfft. Slytherins are snakes" James replied. "It's only by cheating they ever won the house cup and Gryffindor has won for 3 years running. Which is not a coincidence in my book"

 

"Just everyone elses" Rose snorted, she and Al shared a smile and faint chuckle as James glowered at them. 

 

"Well then, no liquorice wands for you" he said simply, pulling the packet out of his bag and yanking a sweet out to chew on demonstratively.

 

"Thanks for that, hate them" Albus replied.

 

Teddy knocked on the door, his hair was canary yellow but as he stepped in it turned a brilliant pink...and so did the lipstick mark on his cheek. "Alright everyone? Excited to start the new term?"

 

Rose nodded. "Is it true we can now see the chamber of Secrets for History?"

 

"Not if Professor Binns is teaching" Teddy said with a sigh, eyebrows rippling with a fuschia grey as his eternal quiff of hair bobbed with the disappointed dip of his head. "He doesn’t believe in History being practical-"

 

"Or interesting" James chorused with him, laughing as he did.

 

The legendary drone of Cuthbert Binns, Professor and Ghost was renowned amongst the students and their siblings. Apparently some students considered exorcising him simply so they could try to get a good grade in their O.W.L exams. So far there had been no such action taken.

 

"I hear Professor Salt retired" James said. "New potions teacher?"

 

"And Defence Against the Dark Arts and we have a new Librarian because Ms. Pince was 122 or something and could mostly just point and shush. Professor Kettleman eloped with the potions delivery man, so for once D.A.D.A teacher isn't being replaced because of...a death". There was that look on his face, a thought to a father he never knew and a mother who had planned to be back soon and never made it home. Teddy didn’t let it show for long, that sincere smile snapping back into place in an instant.  
"I’m really looking forward to it, the new year I mean"

 

"Albus is going to be a Slytherin" James chimed in, earning a prod from Rose that was accompanied by a glare. "What?! He could be! Looks a little lizardy around the eyes. OW!"

 

The shin kick had sounded particularly vicious and Rose smiled sweetly at Teddy who chuckled despite himself. "Albus is too kind a person to wind up in Slytherin, maybe he'll make Hufflepuff?"

 

"I'm sure he'll be Gryffindor" Rose said reassuringly, giving her cousin a pat on the shoulder. "He's brave."

 

James snickered. "Well he won't be a Ravenclaw, not enough brains"

 

Everyone stared at him. "What?"

 

Rose rolled her eyes. "If you need brains to be a Ravenclaw then does that mean every other house, including Gryffindor, is brainless?"

 

Invisible cogs whirred in James' mind and he flushed with irritation, glari g out the window. "No, just that Ravenclaw are a bit on the nerdy side..." he grunted as Rose beamed at her cousins.

 

Teddy chuckled and then spotted the colour changing lipstick on his cheek. "Vic" he grumbled lovingly, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbing the mark away. "She made a colour changing lipstick for our anniversary, it lasts for an hour but matches my hair when we're nearby" he explained, a soft sigh hanging around in his voice. "She's ever so good at potions."

 

James made a vomitting noise and Teddy gave him a wry smile. "Still being overlooked by Dawn Merriwether there James?" He smiled to the others who looked at him quizzically. "He's very taken with a Hufflepuff girl, he's been going to Diagon Alley and getting all kinds of accessories and check ups on his wand because she has a summer job in Ollivander's".

 

James' cheeks were a blotchy red now, an embarrassed blush creeping in. "Shut up, Teddy, I've just been making sure I have a functional wand is all."

 

Albus and Rose stifled chuckles as they watched him squirm. "Of course" Teddy nodded, flashing a charmingly pearly grin. "You know she's just in the other car up ahead if-"

 

James folded his arms and turned his body towards the window. "I don't" he grunted but then grabbed his wallet from his jacket pocket and stood up. "The Trolley Witch is taking forever..." he groused as he swept out of the room and head up the train to the car ahead of them.

 

Teddy gave a chuckle and stepped back out of the compartment. "I'll leave you all to it, see you at the Great Hall" he grinned before heading off, probably in search of Victoire. 

 

Rose returned to her book and Albus sat watching the countryside rush by.   
"Hello. Is this there room here?"

 

Albus looked up to find Scorpius standing in the doorway, dressed in the prim black blazer with the Malfoy Crest on the breast and a black turtleneck that made him seem terribly severe. He had been on the platform but Albus had barely glimpsed him.

 

"Oh, uh, yeah" Albus said as he indicated the seat beside him.

 

Rose peered over the edge of her book at the blonde. 

 

"Hello. I'm Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy" he said with a small wave before pulling a paper bag from the designer leather satchel on his matching luggage. "Peppermint Imp?"

 

Rose snapped her book shut. "Rose Granger-Weasley...Go on then" she smiled. Plucking the small white and green candy devil’s head from the bag and popping it into her mouth.

 

"Mum gave me a positive tonne of sweets, she says they help with making friends and sweetening dispositions" he tilted his head to one side. "Though Dad said if bribery doesn't work there's always cool aloofness which I have been trying but it meant I had to keep moving whenever people sat down in the same compartment as me. Oh has the Trolley Witch been by? I am a slave to Cauldron Cakes".

 

Albus blinked in surprise, the stream of chatter seemed almost alien to the quiet boy he'd met in Ollivander's. Moments later Scorpius was quiet and a bit twitchy again looking a little anxious and still not sitting down. "Would you like to sit down?" Albus asked.

 

Scorpius was in the seat in an instant and looking exceptionally relieved. "Yes. Yes please" he squeaked. "I've been looking for somewhere to sit since we left the station."

 

"Really?" Rose asked warily.

 

Scorpius shrugged faintly. "It's rather obvious who I am and it doesn't endear people to me right off the bat I suppose. Well. I don't think it does but Mother says that a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet so...oh wait I had a point..." his soft white brow furrowed in frustration. ".....No it's gone. I'm babbling though aren't I? Sorry I haven't really ever done this before, well, I mean, boarding school and what not. Mother insisted I attend a local school near the Manor so I could get to know people. Grandfather was livid. Am I oversharing? Oh I have that book too."

 

A silence settled into the compartment again and Rose blinked a few times before putting the book down and saying. "You're mental"

 

Scorpius bit his lip and seemed to be utterly unsure of what to do.

 

"Oh"

 

"So you have the Complete History of Hogwarts?" Rose asked as Scorpius pulled a box of chocolate frogs out of his satchel and offered them around. 

 

"Oh. Yes I read it twice when I got my acceptance letter and then read Rita Skeeters retelling of the Battle of Hogwarts" he frowned. "She remains an utter blight upon mankind in the form of print" he added flatly. 

 

"He can stay" Rose chirped merrily as she helped herself to a frog.

 

Albus smiled at Scorpius who had lit up like a Christmas tree with abject joy. "I told you he was nice"

 

Scorpius' cheeks reddened. "You said I was nice?"

 

"Well you know, you were nice when we talked in Ollivanders" Albus shrugged. "And your mum was lovely."

 

Scorpius looked almost on the verge of tears for a moment. "Thats very nice of you to say" he mumbled, furiously shoving a Peppermint Imp (or four) into his mouth. Rose popped hers into her mouth and at almost the exact same time steam burst forth from their ears. Albus laughed. Rose laughed. Scorpius laughed.

 

There was laughter.

 

"Oh I have Animal Crackers here somewhere" Scorpius said, pulling paper bags from his satchel. "Mother vastly overestimated how many people I would be feeding" he explained as he reached further and further into the bag. "Oh here we go!" He pried the box out and opened it, almost immediately a chocolate covered biscuit falcon attempted to fly free.

 

Rose snapped a hand out and caught it. "They're mental too" she murmured, peering into the box. "Bloody hell a lion biscuit is eating an elephant one."

 

The journey passed on as the rains of the Highlands pelted the window and it grew slowly darker outside. There was a knock on the glass eventually as Albus and Rose returned to their age old argument over who was the better Quidditch team, Chudley Cannons or the Surrey Spinners while Scorpius espoused the virtues of the Wolverhampton Wendigos.

 

A short dark eyed boy stood at the door, he had sallow skin and was wearing his uniform robes already. Around his neck hung a set of bright blue earphones and he held a matching smartphone in his hand. "Hi" he said, an American drawl clear and crisp on his voice. "Uh I just lost my signal and my battery is running low, so uh...does anyone have a charger or, like, a plug socket?"

 

Rose blinked at him a few times and the raised an eyebrow. "We're getting close to Hogwarts, the ambient magic means you won't get signal...and who brings a smart phone to Hogwarts, there's no electricity there"

 

The boy did a double take, fresh faced and utterly gobsmacked. "But...wait...what?" His golden bronze skin began to grow more pallid and he swayed slightly. "Oh. Man. Mom had to have known!" Albus raised an eyebrow and somehow this triggered recognition in the brown eyed boy.

 

"Heeeyyyyy you're Harry Potter's kid. Awesome! I'd ask for a selfie but-" he gestured weakly at the phone. "I'm Gabriel Fortuna, real pleasure". He tweaked a salute off his brow just under his meticulously gelled and styled hair. "I heard you were my age, this is cool, you're going to be a Gryffindor, right?"

 

"Uh" Albus managed.

 

"Oh and you're Rose Weasley-Granger, that’s so cool, I mean your Mom's a genius and your dad...was Harry Potter's best friend" Gabriel chirped merrily, failing to see the scowl Rose's polite smile had changed into. "Good for him. Oh" his eyes fell on Albus who gave a weak smile. "Well you've got to be the Malfoy kid, that’s cool, I mean it's great to hear people are giving the Death Eater families a second chance, it's only fair, I mean they lost the war but they're still, like, people too. Just because your family are fascist supporters doesn't mean you are too."

 

Albus felt a frown falling in on his face as Scorpius grew visibly more uncomfortable with the chatting American. "Excuse me" he said, throat tight. "That’s not exactly polite."

 

"Huh? Oh Sorry. Perils of being a straight shooter I guess, I mean I'm not saying he's a bad guy just that both his parents were and all that. Still its cool I mean he's going to be a Slytherin and I hear they have really mellowed and are like still bad guys but like less bad than they used to be" Gabriel had started checking his hair in the reflection of his phone's screen. "Its not like they all have the Dark Mark or any thing, unless their parents are handing it out or its genetic. Anyway I gotta go, see you at that cute Sorting thing they do. Hey maybe being as good at Quidditch as you are you can gimme some Pointers, Al? Later."

 

And with a whip of his robes he was gone down the train carriage corridor.

 

An uncomfortable silence settled in as the door hung open and then Albus reached out and pushed it closed.

 

"What a "jerk"" he mumbled.

 

Scorpius bit into a chocolate Frog and said nothing as the carriage trundled on. Rose picked up the bag containing her robes and rose from her seat. "I'll see you in a few, I'll just go change into my uniform"she muttered, still irritated from the coarse and inconsiderate chatter. 

 

"Not all Americans are like that" Albus said soothingly as he pulled down the blinds and went to get his robes. "He doesn't understand I don't think, I mean, America is a different country".

 

Scorpius bit into the last Cauldron cake they had purchased from the Trolley Witch. "I know, he didn't mean any harm, I could tell...I can always tell" he lingered on those words for a moment and then cleared his throat. "He was just relaying what he heard."

 

Albus felt his stomach sink. "Yeah."

 

They got changed in silence and when Rose returned they sat quietly stewing in the words both said and unsaid. James returned as they came into the station casting a lookmof surprise at Scorpius as he spotted him. "Huh..." he grunted and grabbed his bags and case. "Nice luggage" he scoffed at the custom designed case and bags Scorpius was handling. "Hurry up and get to the platform, if you're late they feed you to the Thestrals".

 

He pulled his brother to one side and hissed. "Watch out for Malfoys, they're trouble" he said firmly. "You know how they were with dad and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione". This was as close to brotherly as James got, admittedly but it made Albus bristle that this was the most sincere advice he was getting from his older brother.

 

"Just be careful" James shrugged as he saw his little brother set his jaw in that angry way he often did and trundled out of the compartment calling out to "Gatting" to hold on for him.

 

Albus looked at Scorpius who seemed to have been struck mute as he packed.

 

In confined spaces some people forgot, somehow, that things could more readily be overheard and James had never really mastered having an indoor voice.

**Author's Note:**

> There you have it, it sort of jarred with me in the book that Rose would be judgmental and horrible to Scorpius but then be treated as his love interest at the very end. I suppose it was shoehorned in to try and cut down on romantic readings of Scorpius and Albus? I dunno but I decided to give her the open mind of her mother in this instance.
> 
> So Gabriel is mostly an experiment on a modern day child adapting to life without an iPhone at Hogwarts and also another "different" character compared to others around him.


End file.
